Sushupti, Turiya and Turiyateeth

Spiritual evolution through Heartfulness

Hearfulness meditation is an method for inner focus, calmness and peace. Their meditation process includes, Relaxation, Cleaning and Prayer. 

  

Movie-Screen-Infinite

Jagruta - Awake - Action movie
Svapna - Dreaming - Fantasy movie
Sushupti - Deep sleep - Blank Screen
Turiya - You are the screen where action/fantasy/blank is shown
Turiyateeth - Realize that there is no screen and see the infinite

 

Sushupti - Dark room
Turiya - You are watching the room with a torch light
Turiyateeth - Realizing that the room, the light and you are one

 

In the cartography of consciousness mapped out by Indian philosophy—particularly in Advaita Vedanta and Kashmir Shaivism—the transition from the mundane to the absolute is explained through distinct avasthas (states).

While we readily recognize the shifting states of our daily lives, moving from deep sleep to the absolute reality requires a subtle shift in understanding. The progression from Sushupti to Turiya and ultimately Turiyateeta represents the journey from personal ignorance to universal, non-dual realization.

 

1. Sushupti (The Deep, Dreamless Sleep State)

Sushupti is the third of the standard relative states of consciousness (following Jagrat / waking and Svapna / dreaming).

• The Experience: It is a state of dense, peaceful, dreamless sleep. There is no subject-object duality, no thoughts, and no movement of the mind. When you wake up, you remember: "I slept soundly; I knew nothing."

• The Catch: While it feels peaceful and unified, it is not liberation. Sushupti is characterized by Agyana (veiled ignorance) or Laya (dissolution). The ego-mind has not vanished; it has simply folded back into a causal seed state (karana sharira), waiting to sprout again the moment you wake up. 

2. Turiya (The "Fourth" — Pure Consciousness)

The word Turiya literally means "the fourth." However, it is not simply a fourth state stacked on top of waking, dreaming, and deep sleep. It is the underlying fabric or background of all three.

• The Analogy: If the waking, dreaming, and deep sleep states are movies playing on a screen, Turiya is the screen itself. The screen is present when the action movie is playing (waking), when the fantasy movie is playing (dreaming), and when the screen goes completely blank (Sushupti). The movie cannot exist without the screen, but the screen is entirely untainted by what is projected onto it.

• The Realization: Turiya is Atman or Pure Awareness. It is the silent, detached Witness (Sakshi) that observes the coming and going of the other three states without being modified by them. It is called the "fourth" only from our relative perspective because we count the first three first.

3. Turiyateeta (Beyond the Fourth — The Stateless State)

Turiyateeta (or Turiyatita) literally translates to "that which transcends the fourth." It is the ultimate apex of non-dual realization, prominently emphasized in texts like the Avadhuta Gita and Kashmir Shaivism.

• The Shift: In Turiya, there is still a subtle, conceptual trace of a boundary—a distinction between the "Witness" and the "witnessed worlds." You are looking at the three states from the perspective of the background.

• Absolute Non-Duality: Turiyateeta collapses even that final, subtle distinction. The label "fourth" drops away entirely because the first three states are realized to be completely unreal (Mithya). There is no longer a "background screen" separate from the "movie"; everything is recognized as one seamless, uninterrupted mass of absolute reality (Brahman or Parashiva). It is the state of a Jivanmukta (one liberated while alive), acting in the world in permanent, effortless Sahaja Samadhi. 

   

Quick Comparison at a Glance

Attribute	Sushupti (Deep Sleep)	Turiya (The Witness)	Turiyateeta (The Absolute)
Nature	Ignorance / Dormancy	Pure Awareness / Witness	Absolute Non-Duality
The Ego Mind	Present as a seed (Seed of potential)	Transcended (Observed from above)	Utterly dissolved (Unbroken oneness)
Analogy	A dark room where you cannot see the furniture.	Turning on the flashlight to realize you are the watcher in the room.	Realizing the room, the watcher, and the light are all a single, indivisible space.
Experience	Total blankness/unconsciousness.	Conscious stillness; the backdrop of existence.	The "stateless state"—total absorption where inside and outside merge.

The Essential Difference: In Sushupti, you are asleep to the world and asleep to the Self. In Turiya, you are awake to the Self as the silent background of all changing states. In Turiyateeta, the changing states lose their independent reality entirely, leaving only the seamless, eternal expanse of the Absolute.